The only manipulatives that I've used consistently over the past 5 years of teaching my kids are the base 10 blocks. They've been great for all of the operations... including dealing with long division and decimals. Cuisenaire rods were useful at first, but I don't really use them much any more. Same with fraction bars and clocks and such... Useful for a time, but after a while unnecessary.

I would have your friends think about what they want their child to be able to do by 9th grade and work backwards from there... For instance... they might want them to be able to: Write an essay? Type? Have good handwriting? Spell really well? Know where different countries are located on a map? Know about US History? World history? Know about their religion? Know about other religions? Know how to read in Latin? Some other language? The list could go on... Then I'd have them consider where their child is now, what type of learner he/she is, what type of teacher the parent is, what budget they have, whether they want books from religious publishers... And then it would be a lot easier to find programs or books for them.

We're pretty much at the same place with the same aged daughter. I'm also leaning towards Jacob's Algebra, but I'm going to hold off for a year I think. She's just started SM6a and I do think she has most of the math skills that she needs for algebra, but I still feel like she needs more work in problem solving and doing problems that involve multiple steps and thinking through whether an answer makes sense... She isn't a very resilient math student and tends to give up when any problem even looks difficult. Anyway, I do think a pre-algebra year will be helpful. So we have a few pre-algebra books and one of them is LOF Pre-Algebra with biology. I'm not sure what to make of it, though my daughter has loved LOF Fractions and Decimals, so I think she'll love it. I figure since we're studying biology this year, it'll be a nice supplement to both math and science. As I understand it, the author leaves out anything he sees as potentially objectionable (evolution and reproduction). I can live with that. However... I have some reservations about the economics book and am reluctant to buy it. Although I may be wrong, I suspect the author is pretty politically and socially conservative and I'd like to read reviews from parents who are not.

We use History Portfolio, plus a textbook (OUP), and then also: historical fiction novels primary sources web games and songs and activities horrible history books history documentaries on Netflix or youtube historical movies games (renaissance art game, Professor Noggin, geography puzzle) historical cooking historical music / dance "field trips" to see shows related to the period (So far just Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet)

I would go with Key to Fractions or Math Mammoth. LOF is great, but it would be really hard to have LOF be the introduction to a topic. I mean, often there's an example (but not always)... and sometimes you'll get more than one or two problems to practice it before moving on. But frequently not... That said, it's a great supplement and it surely motivates my daughter.

We did it after SM 2b which seems pretty appropriate -- though the skip counting section has been a bit easy and the pentominoes chapter was frustrating for her.

We use it and are happy. Well... I'm happy. My girls handwriting is looking really good. The trite moralistic sayings at the bottom of the page (4th grade) are a constant source of amusement for my older daughter. She also enjoys changing the texts as she writes. I have yet to find a handwriting program for goofy 10 yr olds.

3rd grade Continue Beast academy or return to SM 3 Continue FLL 2 and/or GWG 2 Continue history portfolio ancients, start medieval sotw2 Something for spelling Pentime handwriting (not secular, but pretty) 5th grader Finish sm6... Probably move to SYRWL Maths Intro to academic writing (adult esl text) Continue oup history Continue CPO biology and McHenry stuff Continue Latin prep 1

I haven't used it yet (we did the elem version - but I have the middle school version too) so I can't guarantee... But nothing in the book seems objectionable. It's more that the texts that the sentences come from are mostly adult or older teen books, so theyre likely unfamiliar to most 12 yr olds. But like I said, the elementary would be totally suitable and appropriately challenging for any age. It's not babyish at all.

Yes - we have our friend's 11yr old join us for history, science, Latin and writing twice a week. There are some pros and cons, but the best part is doing labs or activities or discussions that would be boring without another kid.

I would go with elem sentence composing. I don't know about the grammar books, but the difference between the elementary, middle school and high school sentence composing books is in the sentence to be imitated. Elementary -- children's lit (My side of the mountain, trumpet of the swan, charlottes web...). Middle school -- more adult lit (authors like Stephen king, Anne Tyler, Steinbeck). The instructional content is similar -- it's the models that are different.

SWS is okay... We'll finish off the year with it, but I won't buy it again. The exercises are repetitive and uninteresting and the vocabulary is kind of a joke. But... on the plus side. It is quick and it gets done. We add in spelling city for variety.

:iagree:

I don't think kids really need direct instruction in paragraph or essay writing until they are logic stage. Handwriting, spelling, and mechanics are enough.

You really can't 'screw up his writing for life'. Since it looks like he's 5, I'd guess it's more an issue of fine motor development. HWOT does a good pre-k / k program.

Look into good quality, structured workbook type programs... In your place I'd consider: CLE math Galore Park English Singapore or GP science (or maybe Aha Science) Evan moor Geography You might consider History Portfolios if you want something more project based but still structured. There are instructions for each page that tells kids to do things like write a paragraph about Charlemagne or color a picture or do a crossword.

CLE? Galore park?

I understood what you meant and agree with you. Who exactly are homeschoolers comparing themselves to in order to be "average" or "ahead" or "behind". All of our kids are somewhere in their educational journey and have plenty more to learn. Standards and scope/sequence and test items are shockingly arbitrary and we don't all have the same reference point to be comparing anyway. Plus, what's the need?

I think it looks great! They're all solid, good quality programs you've chosen.

We've been happy with SM and use the review sections to keep previous lessons fresh. Besides Saxon, the other popular spiral is CLE. All of these are solid programs.

Yeah, I agree... I wouldn't personally wait until 8 to teach a child to read and there is plenty of developmentally appropriate math to be done in early elementary. But my point is that timing rather than materials may determine efficiency. If you truly want to be efficient... you are better off waiting until it comes really easily and do it quickly once than repeating the same basic material for 5 years and ending up in the same place.

The ETC Latin test is aimed at elementary aged kids and the NLE is more appropriate for middle or high schoolers. ETC was pretty much all vocabulary oriented... No grammar.

I think if you really want to be efficient, pay attention to the timing of when you start a subject. If you wait until the child is absolutely ready for the topic, they'll progress much more quickly than a child who's not yet ready. I was just reminded of this today when I saw how quickly my daughter is learning to type when just a year or two before it was a struggle that we gave up on. So if you really, really want to be efficient, skip all the elementary level Latin books and start with Whelock's in middle school. Or skip elementary math books and start with Lial's Basic College Math. There are folks who'll put off teaching reading until 7 or 8... And I'm certain they all end up at the same place in the end... but with a lot more efficient use of materials.

I always tell my students (and now my daughter) that learning to write is a little like learning to cook. It's good to start off with a recipe if you don't know how to do it, but once you learn, you are you free to toss out the recipe and experiment on your own. A 5 paragraph essay is a recipe that is good to learn on but gets boring fast.

Anything by Ellen McHenry Hakim's Story of Science Minimus and Latin Prep Singapore, MM, LOF (I have mixed feelings about LOF, but my daughter loves it) Horrible science/history/murderous maths